


Easy

by A_simple_lee



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Best Friends, Fluff, Gen, Spencer infodumping yet again, Tickle Fights, Tickling, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29660031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_simple_lee/pseuds/A_simple_lee
Summary: Hanging out with the team after a case always leads to shenanigans. Tonight’s no different.(AKA a Super fluffy rather one sided tickle fight between Spencer and reader)(Can be interpreted as platonic or romantic)
Relationships: Emily Prentiss & Reader, Emily Prentiss & Spencer Reid, Luke Alvez & Emily Prentiss, Luke Alvez & Reader, Luke Alvez & Spencer Reid, Spencer Reid & Reader, Spencer Reid & You
Kudos: 9





	Easy

“Spencer always cheats at cards. He counts them.”

“Really?” Luke absently tilts his beer bottle around by the neck, eyebrows raised.

“Oh yea, you’re banned by practically every casino in Vegas, right?”

“Pretty much,” Spencer shrugs. It’s early evening, and the team’s gone to Rossi’s to cool off after a particularly hard case. Music drifts down from the top of the garden, where the others are all milling around sorting drinks and ordering food.

“I don’t think there’s a game you can beat him at.”

Reid clears his throat. “Not true.”

“Name one.”

“Why should I?”

“What about UNO?” Luke suggests.

“What?”

“UNO. You can’t count cards in UNO. It’s chance-based.”

“That’s a good point-” You start, but get cut off by a loud yelp. Spencer’s stood up to glare at Prentiss, who’s walking around from behind him. 

“Emily!” He mutters, rubbing at his neck.

“Sorry, I forgot you’re ticklish.”

“No you didn’t.”

“You’re right, I didn’t.” She grins, taking a seat next to Luke on the three-seater opposite. “But I had to take the opportunity. You don’t exactly fight back.”

Spencer puts down his drink. “I could, but you’d just turn against me.”

“You could?” You question.

“Yea. It’s not hard.”

“It’s not?”

“Oh, tickling someone is easy, it’s avoiding being tickled that’s difficult. I mean, especially when all of you go after me-”

“Spencer,” Emily snorts.

“What? If you want to tickle someone, it’s not that hard, you’ve just gotta make sure you pick the right person,” Spencer states, swivelling on his heels, hands steepled together with the confidence of someone holding back a dangerous amount of mischief. “Someone who’s a fair physical match, or at the very least is willing to hold back. Then you look at their behaviour; If they’re paying attention to what you’re saying, or if they’re avoiding eye contact. If they’re fidgeting, displaying any visible signs of embarrassment...”

And then he looks at you with a glint in his eyes. 

“Spence-” You start, hesitating when he takes a step closer.

He visibly suppresses a smirk. “The key to all of this is to get into their head. Build anticipation,” and on ‘anticipation’, he wriggles his fingers in the air.

“uh-woah-” You back up a little. Spence sends a satisfied glance to Luke and Emily as if you’ve just proven his point.

“I’m not touching you,” He supplies, wriggling his fingers again and smirking when you glance away to fight back a grin. “But I don’t actually need to if I want to make you laugh,” His hands move towards your sides, too quickly for you to hold back a yelp. Spencer ducks to meet your gaze, fingers dancing just above your sides. “All I need to do is remind you that I might. Maybe throw in some teasing - was that a smile?”

“No, no-”

“It wasn’t? Are you sure?”

“Yes-” 

Spencer’s hands feint towards your sides, drawing back at the last second and eliciting a giggle. 

“Aha! See?” He grins when you laugh, holding his hands up. “I haven’t touched you!”

“Okay, point taken - are we done?”

“I dunno, I kind of want to see where this is going,” Emily grins. “I didn’t even know you were ticklish.”

Spencer suppresses a smile. “Is it okay if I carry on?”

This surprises you. You don’t _mind_ , per se, but not minding is quite another thing from giving express permission for your coworker to embarrass you in front of two others. 

You pause, blush burning your face. “You’re not making me uncomfortable, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Okay, so the next most important thing at this point is reactions - you’ve got to look at how they’re responding to what you’re doing. Whether they’re dodging any questions, or stuttering at all; look for anything that might clue you in to how they’re feeling.”

“Like if they’re blushing super hard?” Luke chimes in, a note of amusement in his voice. 

“Yeah. Like if they’re blushing super hard,” Reid agrees sagely, before turning back to you and wriggling his fingers again. “Are you ready?”

You start to nod. “Yes-”

Spencer’s hands shoot towards your sides before you can take another breath, spidering against your shirt and sending a jolt through your nervous system. You fold in on yourself with a yelp, hands flying down to try to block him with very little success; Reid’s too quick, pre-empting your flailing by moving his hands to target a new spot before you can reach him. Laughter spills from your lips in waves, and you tilt your head back in a poor attempt to conceal your smile.

“Sometimes it’s good to catch people off guard,” He explains over your hysterics, squeezing your lower ribs with almost methodical precision. “The shock reduces their ability to hide any reactions - which as I just mentioned, are important at this stage. People’s laughter often pitches up when you’re close to a more ticklish spot, which acts as a dead giveaway. They also tend to have specific tells. Like snorting, stuttering, or increased squirming.” As if to enunciate his point, he gently takes hold of your arm to hold it aside, before lightly drilling his thumb into the spot on your side that you’d been blocking. You erupt into incoherent giggles, trying and failing to curl away and ending up partially on Reid’s lap. He’s undeterred, only pausing to smile down at you before continuing his infodump.

“And at this point the laughter and associated endorphins have made them weaker, so you can focus less on incapacitation and more on keeping them laughing,” With that, Spencer shifts his focus from the weak spot on your sides to your neck, fluttering his fingers when you hunch up in defence and drawing a stream of giggles from you. 

“Help-” You start, letting out a yelp when his hands dart back to your lower ribs. You go back to covering your face with your hands. “Luke- Ehemily!”

Luke just chuckles. “No can do. Sorry, kid.” 

“You can get away if you want to,” Emily supplies. “Don’t exactly need us.”

“Yea,” Spencer squeezes your sides. “I’ll stop if you want me to.”

“Shut up-”

“Oh. See, it’s interesting you say that, because I was just about to explain that this is the stage where people tend to lose their coherency a little bit, normally because they’re flustered. You deflecting our observations like that just shows that we’re getting under your skin. That, and you’re covering your face, partly because you’re embarrassed but also to hide how much you’re blushing - which is really cute, by the way.” Reid states as he zones in on a dip between your ribs which makes you snort. You shake your head, keeping your hands covering your mouth.

“Aw, cmon,” He grins. “Don’t hide,” One of his hands manages to get under your arm, and you break into a new bout of hysterics, spluttering a few protests before clamping your arm down. You try not to dwell on how nice it feels to laugh freely like this, or how long it’s been since you smiled this much. 

Spencer is speaking to Luke and Emily again, but the words are lost on you, although you gather it’s something about using teasing. You tap Spencer’s arm, and he slows his pace a little.

“Had enough?”

Your sides hurt from laughing. “Yea-”

“Okay,” He smiles, immediately stopping and patting you on the shoulder. You stay where you are for a second, trying to get your breath back around residual giggles.

“And there you go. Tickling people is easy.” He says, picking up his drink and handing you yours. 

“Right,” Luke grins. “Or maybe we just have 2 really ticklish team members.”

Emily suppresses a grin. “Could be,”

Spencer’s spluttering, “hey-I’m not, I-well-...Okay, I’ll get you guys sometime, then you’ll see.”

Luke snorts. “You just taught us all the tricks in the book, genius. Good luck with that one.”

Reid huffs out a laugh. “Maybe I didn’t. You don’t know.”

“Hardly matters, I’m not ticklish.”

“You’re not?” Emily turns to poke Alvez’s side. No reaction.

“Nope," He looks rather smug.

“Damn,” She tuts. “Okay. Who needs a top up?”

It’s no surprise to anyone that you’re the first to hand Emily your glass.


End file.
